Magical Battle Arena. Guide and Review

Thanks to fly-system, the doujin game Magical Battle Arena was released at comiket this year. A quick run down of the game before I get into how you install and what you should need to know.

The game, as the title implies, concentrates on well… Magical Battles in an arena (lol….). But in all seriousness here. The game is a third person fly-and-shoot kind of game. Featuring characters from series such as Nanoha and Fate from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha or Sakura from Card Captor Sakura. Controls would feel similar to those who play third person mech piloting games like A.C.E. or Armored Core.

Super Robot Wars A Portable

Alright. It’s been awhile since I’ve last posted anything…Okay maybe almost half a year to be exact, but I’ll try to actually do something with this place now…or end up saying I will just to keep myself happy. Anywho, I’ll do a quick rundown on Super Robot Wars A Portable for the Playstation Portable.

G Generation Spirits [First Impression]

I’ve been playing the latest game in the G Generation franchise titled Spirits. This game is the first (or so what I’ve heard) all-UC only game in the G Generation games. It goes from original Gundam all the way to Crossbone. I’d wish to see Gundam X series in it since it does deal with The One Year War (or ten years or so after it). I’ll break down what I think of the game after playing through it a bit.

Graphics: The game offers pretty great cutscenes along with the in-game battle animation. It is not as flashy as that of Super Robot Wars, but it is definitely up there. The scenery/battlefields are designed quite well and the sprites icon used are pretty good too. The menus look nice and just the overall game is designed well.

Sounds: The music is from their respected series, so nothing special there. Sound effects are the same as those used in the previous G Generation games, but it doesn’t get old. The one thing I really like is the classic sound FXs you’d hear in the series such as the Zaku eye turning on/lighting up and all.

Gameplay: The gameplay is quite simply to pick up in my opinion, but actually doing well is another. The game’s difficulty isn’t extremely hard nor is it easy. It will require some thinking on how you will organize your units and where to go, whereas SRW required the same idea, but not always if you had fully upgraded units. The upgrading system is slightly weird and you can always buy units that are not part of the series giving you a slightly/higher chance of winning the scenario. The “operator” menu is pretty easy to understand also even if you don’t understand Japanese. The game’s understandability is pretty easy and is probably a little more easier than SRW. The only parts that one may have trouble on are upgrading parts and attacks and all, but shouldn’t be too hard.

Overall: In the end this game is well worth the time to pick up and play. Highly recommended to those who like Gundam, like games such as Fire Emblem or SRW, or have a lot a free time on their hands.

~Kevin~

In need of an “Unlimited Hard-Drive Works” right now. (RAMBLE TIME!)

Alright…Starting…NEXT weekend I will HOPEFULLY get back into the trend of downloading and watching anime. With the school year already started I can already feel my life being drained away by school and I just started Thursday. I’ll be taking “leadership” of my school’s Japanese Animation and Film club (otherwise known as Anime Club) even though I’m not much of a vivid follower of Japanese media, but the irony of it all is I’m the only (if not one of the very few) Asians in the club…don’t know where the irony is.

I’m currently just redownloading Code Geass (even though I just needed the last few picture books and the last episode special) along with Death Note (Live Action): The Last Name and the anime series. I watched up till around episode 12 back when it was still running, but my procrastination (and lack of free hard-drive space) got to me and I never ended up following through the series. I’m planning to now, so I hope that goes well…

I still have a numerous amount of series to finish. Series that are on my hard drive that I started, but never really got into (more like I just got lazy or couldn’t bring myself to watch) are…
Elfen Lied
Steel Angel Kurumi (all of them)
Girls Bravo 1 and 2
Excel Saga
Pumi Pumi Poemy
THIS ALONE is enough to keep me busy for a week or so. This does not include the numerous of CDs I have of backed-up series that I have not watched (this of course might not be true since my collection was slightly destroyed due to a mishap that happened…)

My current plan is to start catching up with the series running and what I mean by that is actually download them onto my PC instead of watching them via Crunchyroll. I’m also planning to buy more manga in the coming few months just so I have something to read…of course that isn’t much to say since I can easily finish the manga within an hour-ish fastest…assuming I don’t look at all the pretty pictures for more than a minute

I’ll also be keeping myself busy with various games. I’ll be playing the upcoming Bleach: Blade Battlers game which is the 2nd installment that is released for the PS2. I’ll also play Arcana Heart, which is a 2-D fighter thats suppose to be filled with moe. I’ll also be playing Naruto Shippuuden: Narutimatte Accel 2. The game will include Time-Skip Sasuke apparently and will be released in December 2007 according to various places. Looking forward to Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core also for the PSP.

With so many games to play (along with old games still needing to be finished) and various upcoming series (along with many that needs to be finished) I will probably not do so well in school. Although I will probably try SLIGHTLY harder than last year to keep my grades from dying, I can’t guarantee great scores…and even more can’t guarantee I’ll do so well in getting goals accomplished…like…finishing and catching up with my anime and games. Oh well we’ll see what happens…

~Kevin~

Another Century’s Episode 3: THE FINAL (first 20 stage review)

Okay I just got the game yesterday and I’m already addicted to it. Just like the previous games, A.C.E. offers series cross-over with its own unique storyline (much like Super Robot Wars). The game has scale size units, so all units are as big as they should be, and a very simple button configuration for anyone to just pick up the game and within 2-3 minutes will have it down (although longer for some depending on your understanding).

In A.C.E. 3: The Final they offer the same/similar engine to that of A.C.E 2, but you can always switch to the original style of gameplay. Unit’s special abilities are done via L3 and R3 being pressed. What I mean by that is for example: If your using Freedom with METEOR unit attachment you can revert to just Freedom gundam by pressing L3 and R3, but you can call back the METEOR unit with the same buttons. I have yet to try it on other units, but I’ll get to it.

The game does not REALLY require any knowledge of the Japanese language. It would really help to understand whats going on and all, but its pretty easy to get what your objective is (so far) and picking it up isn’t hard. Upgrading may cause troubles for some just on the pure fact that you don’t know what upgrade is what (so I just upgrade everything…) I’d recommend that people who want to enjoy it fully know whats going on, but if your like me you can enjoy it just as much without understanding a single thing thats going on.

In the third and final installment we have a list of 18 series. Ranging from original Gundam (RX-78) to Gundam X or Turn A Gundam or Freedom Gundam, but with those we also have some Super-Types now such as Shin Getter and even stuff from Overman King Gainer. Its probably the only A.C.E. game to ever had Super-type.

Explanation on Super and Real type.

Super: They are usually units that use less conventional weapons and usually have strong armor. Examples would be MazinKaizer, Getter Robo, or GaoGaiGar (someone help confirm that).

Real: They are usually units that use more conventional weapons, but armor isn’t strong. Units such as Gundams.

There are exceptions which would be categorized in Hybrid. Units such as the Eva series and possibly Dolems from RahXephon

With that said we see a very unfitting units in the A.C.E. series. For example…Shin Getter compared to any other unit that you have in your arsenal is huge…Even with Freedom or Justice with METEOR unit, Shin Getter still looks like it can crush them with a Getter Shine.

The game itself is pretty fun. Being the last game in the series it is worth getting for those who want a “mech-piloting” game or who loved the previous A.C.E. games. The game may be slightly confusing if you don’t have any prior knowledge of the series or its units, but its still fun regardless. The graphics aren’t bad and the system is pretty tight from what I’ve seen.

~Kevin~

Persona 3 (full Review)

Sorry about the late posting. I’ve been busy going over to friends’ houses and all that other stuff and just haven’t had time to come back on. Not to mention I kind of forget that I need to update this at times hehe…

Anyways lets get going with this review!

Persona 3. Released in the states this month and offers a very unique style of “gameplay”. It offers your classic roaming along with getting into battles like in Valkyrie Profile 2 (thats the only game I can think of that involves you to hit an enemy before they hit you to get into a battle and gain an advantage). The battle system is slightly turn-based which you, the protagonist, will order your teammates around to either focus on healing, buffering, acting-freely or weakness scanning. The only person your really controlling is the protagonist. Everything else is just used via commands and the computer will act upon that. This is all what you do during the night pretty much.

While going out and fighting “shadows” is fun at night you also have to deal with daily school life. Everything from participating in clubs, making friends (which affect your Persona stats and all), increasing your 3 stats of Charm, Courage and Intelligence, and even going out and dating (which is really just part of making friends). You’ll be asked questions in school which will require prior knowledge of the topic and also take the mid-year and answer based on your memory of the question you got in class.

The characters in the game are quite ranged. You’ll find just about anyone you can think of. Of course you’ll probably end up befriending everyone anyways, which kind of works in real life…Regardless this is only half the fun of the game. The questing inside Tartarus is pretty annoying. At first you would get to a “checkpoint” (I call them that) every….5 levels or so and you’d fight a guardian/mini-boss before proceeding onto the next few levels. As you get higher up the enemies become stronger and also the checkpoint areas become less and less frequent. Not to mention when you reach a road block at the “peak” of the area you will need to walk all the way up from the check point once the wall is down allowing you to proceed. Walls will be taken down each time you kill a boss…. or in other words every full moon you will be forced to take down a boss which will then pull the wall down. Your party can only consist of 3 members excluding yourself so when you start to get more people you will need to choose wisely. Also EXP points are shared and the more members you have in the party the less you’ll get….so if you decide to go solo you will gain more.

The battles will require you to use a mix of physical attack and Persona summons. Now depending on the enemies weakness you may be forced to only use Persona based attacks or Weapon based attacks only… Personas are only summoned for the split second it needs to attack via an Evoker (which is a gun pretty much….that you aim at your head). Each Persona has its own weakness and strengths which will also determine your survival against specific enemies. An example would be if your Persona was weak against Wind then a Wind-based attack would be strong on you and will also give the enemy one extra attack. NOW! if you attack the enemy with an attack that its weak against then they will be knocked down and you’ll receive an extra attack. If you get multiple enemies you can target them in various ways and if all enemies are knocked down you can do a “gang-rape” attack where you all attack at once (with pretty cheesy English voice acting and dialog to spare). After the battle you will be asked to pick cards that will be shuffled. Cards will contain money, HP healing, EXP boost?, or a new Persona. You can’t have the same Persona on you, so that means no doubling up on one Persona.

The game features full English voice-acting (which in my opinion is kind of lame and funny at the same time) with somewhat mildly funny dialog, which feels really awkward to me.

The game itself is quite easy to pick up and requires no prior knowledge of the previous Persona games and does not require anyone to get a “Megaten” fan to enjoy it (cause I have never played any “Megaten” games prior to this) The game MAY! be somewhat contraversial to some since the process to summon a Persona requires the user to use an Evoker (gun) and shoot themselves in the head. Although not a real gun the fact that it looks like they are shooting themselves with one in the head means many parents might get angry.

This game is rated “M” for some mildly stupid reasons (In my opinion), but regardless I recommend many to try it out.

~Kevin~

Sorry for the horrible organization.

Persona 3 (mini-review)

(I’ll do a full review tomorrow morning)

Persona 3…a game where you don’t really expect a state release. The game is an RPG like all the Megaten games. Spin off of the Megaten series of course. Game does not require previous knowledge of Persona 1 or 2. Game system involves a “turn-based” battle system and also a “dating sim” setting along with multiple endings and vast list of characters. Story itself seems mediocre….you, the protagonist, shows up and crazy things happen and you have to solve the mystery of what is going on in the city with your crew along with saving the world…yada yada yada. Regardless this game is extremely fun and is highly addicting. Both in battle and dating sim sense. Full Review will be up tomorrow.

Upcoming Games. (Interesting to me)

Okay so I went around play-asia to look up Super Robot Wars Original Generation for PS2 (releasing on June 28th 2007) to see the prices and I came across another link to the upcoming release of Melty Blood Act Cadenza Version B.

For SRW: OG I’ve been looking forward to this release since it was announced. I’m very excited and I’m planning to actually order this one (instead of “obtaining” a copy via internet). The game is roughly 60-70 USD for ordering from Play-Asia and doesn’t have anything else aside from the game and all. Oh well I’ll probably get my friend to help me order it.

MB: AC Ver B for PC will be released in July on the 27th of 2007. There will be two editions released. A limited edition and a normal edition. From Play-Asia it will cost roughly 80 USD for Limited and 60 USD for Normal. I don’t know what the difference is and nothing was stated (probably on the official site, but I can’t read moonspeak -.-). People who follow Melty Blood might remember a demo of version B for the PC being released, but now we officially have proof that it will be released for the PC.

Links to the official sites. Please buy these games and support the company (or mooch off the internet). Sorry, but these sites are in Japanese. Feel free to translate them using online translators if you’d like. Visit Play-Asia for details on the games (regardless of how much/little they have)

Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation (PS2) Homepage
Melty Blood: Act Cadenza Ver. B (PC CD-ROM) Homepage

~Kevin~

Doujin fun for me and you.

Alright so since I have nothing better to talk about (still depressed at not being able to spend my time on Danbooru for a few hours doing absolutely nothing relevant to my survival…or so I think) I decided to go online to look for a few Doujin-soft. Recently I’ve been playing Porindama Online (A Puyo-puyo like game of Ragnarok Online. It’s an H-doujin-soft). It was made by the company [cosplay teahouse soft] <–which is a translation of コスプレ喫茶娘々 apparently (No I do not know Japanese and I get the Japanese from online sources *cough* HongFire *cough* and used copypasta). The game is quite fun for I have just played Puyo-Puyo Fever 2 for the PS2 recently with a few of my friends.

Its funny how I learned about Puyo-puyo through Genshiken (the ever so amazing anime about Otaku lifestyle…not meant to be taken seriously). So yeah. The company also did another Doujin-soft with Ragnarok, but this time its bomberman. 3D plains, but using sprite characters. That is also fun because your killing porings to then get H-scenes…I wish I actually knew what was going on because there seems to be some funny dialog … oh well. Also played the Nanoha doujin shmup (sp?) which doesn’t contain any H I think… (before I go further I must tell you that the bomberman and shmup being mentioned right now are only demo/trial versions and not the full version). The first version of the Nanoha game was EXTREMELY slow for its genre. The second version was a little better. Not to mention you could play as Fate-chan in the second version. Must put penis in Fate…

Anyways with that being said I am downloading a few doujin-soft which includes Tobi Tsukihime (a Tsukihime shmup) and it features Kohaku and Ren/Len. Yes a cat is fine too people ><! and so is Kohaku…although she’ll kill my family… OTL

Might go and play stepmania again for the 10th time today because I have no life like that for I am Asian. GOOD DAY SIR!

~Kevin~

P.S. sorry for unorganized rambles/rants/or whatever the hell you want to call it.

Mobile Suits, Guns, Katana, Loli, and a Third Eye?

Okay recently I’ve been doing two things. Finishing The Third and playing Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: Rengou Vs. Z.A.F.T. II Plus (god thats a long name)

First off I’ll just say that The Third was pretty crappy when it came to maintaining their animation. The animation at times felt like Naruto…really lazy and awkward. For the most part the story was fairly decent, but not an amazing ending.

The Third follows a loli-rific female protagonist Honoka. She wields a katana and a handgun. Exceptionally skilled in the usage of her katana she earned the name “Sword Dancer.” She goes through many adventures and a lot happens…

Okay pretty much the anime isn’t smooth at times. They jump a bit which causes SOME confusion so there is not set plot until the end. The action is fairly good, but the humor they try to implement sucks. The anime has a more serious tone to it making humor hard to accept. In the end though it was a fairly good watch and I enjoyed it to the full extent (or what I think was my full extent) of what it was.

As for Gundam SEED Destiny: Rengou Vs Z.A.F.T. II Plus. The game is quite difficult in my opinion. The controls take a bit of time to get use to because I haven’t played a game such as GSD: Fed Vs ZAFT. As you could of guessed the ‘II’ suggests that this is the 2nd game of the Federation VS ZAFT series. The ‘Plus’ means that it has more than what the arcade version had to offer. My guess is that the units from StarGazer are the only addition along with the whole storyline thing. I personally found it funny that you can use the Live Performance Zaku that is seen in Destiny when Meer has her concert. The Zaku sucks beyond belief, but its a good comic relief if your looking to just have fun. Strike Noir feels extremely broken compared to most other units (Excluding Strike-Freedom, Destroy, and M.E.T.E.O.R. Unit + Freedom

The game offers a mode called ‘P.L.U.S.’ mode which is like playing through missions in a story like manner. Currently you start off with Shinn and you can play as other characters as the story progresses. You build your friendship and rivalry with people depending on the mission and how well it proceeded and leveling.

The arcade mode is pretty normal and nothing special. Once again it is different from any Mecha-piloting simulators I’ve played. It gives you the option of choosing a pilot for a mecha. What that means is I have have Kira piloting in Destroy or Lacus-sama piloting Strike-Freedom or StarGazer (because Lacus is just hawt and awesome like that.)

I see myself spending a lot of my Christmas vacation on more anime and games so I’ll keep everyone posted. Also as a note [Circus-Fetish] is releasing a fandisc that is titled: Circus Disc ~Christmas Days~. This is pretty old news, but for those who don’t know think Da Capo II with Kotori….and not old Kotori either…Da Capo Kotori. Now we can have a Kotori X Nanaka party (although I doubt that’ll be in the game). The game is set to be released on the 22nd of this month (WHICH IS TOMORROW!). The promotional song is also very good. I found the translation of the song to be titled something like ‘Retrieving in Santa Claus’ (never trust google translate…) So here is the promotional video on YouTube.

YouTube Video LINK HERE!!!